‘All-female’ hit musical Six blasted for casting a man as Anne Boleyn

The musical ‘Six’ has cast controversial transgender comedian Dylan Mulvaney as part of its supposedly all-female cast.

Mulvaney, a man who identifies as a woman, has been cast as Anne Boleyn, resulting in public backlash. He previously did a disastrous ad campaign for beer brand Bud Light which resulted in a boycott of the product.

The hit Broadway musical is touted as a female-centred retelling of the lives of Henry VIII’s wives, giving a voice to the historic women. Boleyn was Henry VIII’s second wife, the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, and was beheaded following three miscarriages.

‘Celebrating femininity’

Mulvaney commented on social media: “For me to be able to step out onto a Broadway stage as Anne Boleyn and perform an iconic historical character’s role in a show that is so rooted in celebrating femininity, I think that’s a miracle”.

Having more than 10 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, he posted: “I know I have a lot of privilege working for me, and I have this platform, which no doubt helped me get here, but sometimes we have to take a different route to get where we’re supposed to go in life.”

The producers stated that they “have chosen to temporarily limit access to the Broadway production’s X account” as a result of the backlash, saying they felt some of the comments “crossed the line into bullying”.

He is due to start the role on 16 February.

‘Back to the 1600s’

One commenter stated: “It’s meta ironic that in a play that attempts to give voice to the invisible women who have viewed by history as just the wives of a famous man, the most iconic of those women is now being played by a MAN.”

Another said: “A man playing a woman who was executed for not birthing a male child. If only Anne Boleyn had assigned her daughter ‘male at birth’”.

One person wrote: “Women are still fighting hard for equal representation in theatre and now out of the few roles written for women, this one is going to a man.”

A further comment read: “Right. We are back to the 1600s where boys played the women’s parts. This is wrong in so many ways.”